Keith Urban was a busy many for the past year. In addition to touring and releasing the new album 'Fuse,' there was his gig on 'American Idol,' along with all the promotion (and side drama) that accompanied it. It might seem like 'Idol' would be a distraction that would negatively effect or detract from his own music. However, that wasn't the case. In fact, it was quite the opposite. His work on the reality show actually helped him gain "fresh perspective" for his latest chart-topper.

"I [previously] sort of utilized the 'You can make a record by staying in the zone and not being distracted, keeping the vision' [mindset]," he told Yahoo about his prior approach. "But this time I actually found myself being able to step away from that, and go into another world for a while. And then come back to it with this completely fresh perspective every time. Even if it was just a couple days away doing 'Idol.'"

So he was able to step away, clear his head and come back and address and attack the task at hand. It sounds like 'Idol' was a catharsis for him.

The 'Little Bit of Everything' singer continued, "I really liked that fresh perspective I always had, 'cause certain things kept holding up. And other things, that I'd always be agonizing over, I'd go here for two days, come back and go, 'Oh, this just needs to do this. Great!' I wouldn't have figured that out if I'd been stuck in it the whole way."

Urban was the sole judge from the Season 12 panel to return for Season 13 in 2014. The new season begins airing in January on Fox. Perhaps another year of 'Idol' will help Urban gain perspective for the 'Fuse' follow up.